mrstoots

Hey, thanks for the info! I'm in Mass too, usually shop in Ware, not too far from Westfield. Last year they opened at 1. Seems like it may be the same story this year. I haven't seen any signs at my local Wally's yet, but I'll keep an eye out this week! Again, thanks!

I've also gotten great deals on BF, 700 thread count sheets at Wally World for twenty bucks, plus the cheapo towells and washcloths! Best deal ever, though, had to be last year. Got my daughter that Loopz toy, which goes for close to thirty bucks at Toys R Us, for $5.00! Hoping for some great deals this year too!

I've noticed that Walmart tends to have the same things on sale year after year. For instance, the sheets. For the past few years they have had 500 count sheets on sale for $20.00. The only difference this year is that they are 700 count. Same thing with the towels and washcloths, the Rubbermaid sets, the PJ's, the Wrangler jeans for $9.50. They've been on sale on BF at WM for the past several years, all for about the same price. I know because I've bought them! See, I pretty much know what the basic stuff is that they'll have even before the ad leaks! lol!

I agree with everyone who feels it's crazy for WM (or any other store) to be opening so early on Thurs evening. At least in my state (Massachusetts) we have a law that prohibits the stores from opening on Thanksgiving. (however, I have seen CVS and Walgreens open on Thanksgiving...probably because they are pharmacies(?)). However, even with that, the WMs in MA are opening at 1:00 AM Fri morning, when they used to open at 4:00 AM the past few years and for years before then the store didn't open until 5 or 6. We have always shopped at WM when they opened at 4:00, we'd check out at 5:00 and head to the mall for 6ish. Well, I found out that even the mall is opening at 12:30 AM this year! So it looks like it's gonna be an allnighter for us! Hope the turkey does its job on Thanksgiving and lets me take a nap! I'll need it!

I was at my local Walmart in Leicester, MA tonight and saw they already have the BF hours posted at the registers. This particular store is opening at 1 AM! I'm curious to check out the other WM's in the area to see if they have signs at the registers also. Last week I was also glad to see they had some Christmas stuff out. And tonight they had even more stuff! All those cheesy, stupid musical animated reindeer and Santas, you know, the usual. Lots of glittery ornaments, if you're into that kind of thing.

In all the years I've been shopping on BF, I've never seen the police present at Walmart. The Wally World I shop in is in a small town. I figured maybe a fight had broken or something but then when I heard what had happened in CA and AZ, I figured maybe they were just being cautious...anywho... Wally World was a zoo as usual. The store was supposed to open at 4 am (I'm one of those blue law states!) but they let us in about 20 min early. Whoopie! By then I just wanted to get warm. Two things I hated: Like last year they had every damn aisle blocked off for the people wanting to get the big ticket items. The aisles are so small to start with, then you block off half of them so getting around is a real pain. Second, as usual none of the zillion Wally World employees standing around looking lost had any CLUE as to where anything was. I actually helped two other shoppers find items they were looking for! One woman asked two employees where the waffle makers were. I only knew where they were because I passed by them three times as I meandered up and down the aisle. One of the employees told her "it's probably around here somewhere", I pointed it out to her further down the aisle by saying "see the purple box"? Then another lady was looking for the Hanes zip hoodies and couldn't find them. Luckily I had found them and pointed them out to her. She was very grateful. There were some things I couldn't find: The Disney storybooks (could not find a balloon for this item, searched everywhere and asked two employees who were no help) and the blow up snowman was right where it should've been in the lawn and garden area but when I first went in there, they told me they were just doing TV's in there! I did go back and got the damn snowman. After a while I felt like I was on a friggin' scavenger hunt...who needs a map? They're no good anyway, since nothing is where it says it's going to be. One thing I found interesting was later Friday night I went to another Walmart and there were TONS of things left: big screen TV's, all the clothes they had on sale, the Rubbermaid sets. As for the rest of my BF experience, other than getting overly tired, it went quite well. Got a great parking spot at the mall, received an unexpected snowglobe just for walking in the door to JC Penney (I never shop there--just walked in to get into the mall!)

I would actually LOVE a midnight opening--if only my state of MA allowed that. I guess technically they COULD open at midnight, as TECHNICALLY it would officially NOT be Thanksgiving any longer, but nobody here has gotten that message yet...so we don't shop on Thanksgiving (which is fine with me) and our shopping starts at 4:00 am when Wally World opens...:):)

The Walmart I shop at does it pretty well. They hand out maps. For the past two years they have opened at 4:00 am so that allows us to get a coffee at the Dunks down the street and hop in line by 3:00 am. We're never there for any big ticket stuff, just some of the general stuff on sale (like 500 count sheets for $20.00 which I'm hoping they have again this year; and the $9.00 jeans). We shop for an hour, check out around 5:00 am when the prices go into effect, then it's off to the mall!

I noticed this same thing on the 40 piece Rubbermaid set that had been sold for $9.00. At my store they had it marked down to $7.00.

My Wally World experience was not the greatest experience as far as customer service goes. I did find it comical to learn that some fools (presumably (1) either from out-of-state, (2) people who live in Mass but don't know about the Blue Laws or(3) just ignorant people who didn't have the sense to call the store ahead of time) were standing in line since 10:00 p.m. when the store did not open until 4:00 a.m....heehee! Getting back to the customer service experience...or lack of... I don't know if Wally World just goes out and hires people off the street to stand around and block aisles in the store on Black Friday, but they sure as heck do not know where any of their merchandise is. All I wanted was Beautyrest 500 count sheets for $19.88. They were there alright. Sitting under a sign marked $39.00. So of course I didn't pay any attention to them b/c I was looking for a sign that said $19.88! Long story short, the sheets were scanned and I was assured they would ring up $19.88. Rubbermaid containers were right near the door when you walked in. Last thing I'm looking for as I'm being pushed towards a shopping cart... Where are the hoodies? I don't know, answers the not-so-knowledgeable employee. Then she moves only to reveal...duhduhduh...the hoodies sitting in a display that she was blocking with her big, fat butt!

All I know is that at my Walmart they have a sign on the door indicating their hours on the Wed before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving (closed) and then on Friday it says they are open at 5:00. Since they had the same signs on the door last year and let us in at 4:00, I'm thinking history will repeat itself. In at 4:00, check out at 5:00. I also found it interesting when I was there on Friday that the toys that are listed in the toy catalog as going on sale starting Nov. 7 were already at the sale prices. I know some of them have been that price for a while (i.e., Barbie Swim Puppies) but I've been watching Baby All Gone (the one that eats and then does its business in the diaper---the one going for $29.97--) and I saw that it was going on sale for $24. On Friday I checked it out for kicks and was surprised (and ecstatic!) that it was already marked at that price! So of course I picked it up (there were only two there!)...

Last year our Walmart let us in at 4:00 a.m., I shopped for an hour (no problem allowing us to put stuff in carts) and I checked out at 5:00 a.m. I was in the car by 5:15 and on my way to the mall! It was GREAT! But I think the people waiting for the big ticket items were probably there until at least 10:00 because when I saw them in the lines right before I checked out at 5:00, they weren't moving. And the lines were not very organized. Everyone was just kind of standing around haphazardly, looking like they were waiting for SOMETHING... One thing I did hate were the ropes they used to block off entire aisles so if you started going down an aisle one way, you had to make a turn to get around to the other side!

I've been shopping all year. Sales, coupons, tax-free holiday has helped. I also started purchasing Walmart gift cards each week and hope to have at least $100.00 by BF. I'm planning on doing that again next year, starting in January

I was wondering when we might be hearing something regarding Wally World...bring it on!

For me it's a combination of tradition and the sales. My sister and I shop together and we have our rituals: morning coffee at Dunkin Donuts, then Walmart, off to the mall, get to Christmas Tree Shops first because they have 20% off your entire purchase until 9:00 am (you have to be in the store by then), Sears, FYE (for the past few years they've been having a buy one, get one free sale on DVD TV shows; I'm working on getting the entire MASH collection...only five more seasons to go!) and any other stores that strike my fancy...